Cara Siobhan Ross
|image = Image:Cara.png |Orientation = Bisexual |Department = Science |Notable Family = _ *Gale Ross - Mother *Marston Ross - Father |Decorations = _ *Star Cross, 2156 *Masters degree in Climatology, 2157 *Magna cum laude, Starfleet Academy, Class of 2157 |FaceClaim = Katherine McNamara}} Cara Siobhan Ross was a Starfleet officer and the current Chief Science Officer of the starship NX-04 Discovery. Personal History Cara Siobhan Ross was born in the bayside town of Plockton, Scotland, oft called the Jewel of the Highlands, overlooking Loch Carron. The town was steeped in Scottish history, to the point that some from outside would call the inhabitants almost backward, if they were impolite, or quaint if they were predisposed to kindness. Either way, it was a popular tourist attraction, even in the mid twenty second century. Many of the inhabitants found that the greater globalization of Earth, and its fledgling steps out in the galaxy at large, were a double edge sword. Culture, they saw, was slipping away. But at the same time, there was a chance. Many in the small town began to talk with others, scattered about the Highlands. There was talk of the terraforming project on Mars, and some news of the far flung Earth colonies, Vega, Alpha Centauri, Terra Prime, and the like. What if, some began to say, they went and formed their own colony? While the fruits of this conversation would take some time to pan out, it was an Idea that caught like wildfire. And one that a young Cara Siobhan Ross decided she would see realized. Even at a young age she knew such goals couldn't be left in the hands of the stodgy old men and women that ran the town. Cara grew up in a world where sunlight was precious, and rain was a constant companion. Where cold winds blew in wicked winters, and the hills around her town were vibrant green in the spring. Where craggy shores warred with epic waves. Where she wore clothes so far out of touch with the modern fashions of Earth that she felt transported back to the 1900s - which was done very much on purpose. And not just the fashion, but the morals too. A conservative, traditional upbringing. But if they were going to have a colony, then the youth needed to be ready to help make it happen. Despite the old world traditions she was surrounded by, her family ensured that Cara was educated in a highly regimented, science-filled course of study, was something of a contradiction. This would lead Cara to rebel, in every way she could think. Be it flaunting curfews, ditching school, dating the wrong people - running away (Twice), wearing the wrong clothes - whatever on could actually manage to pull off on the isolated, bay town, Cara managed. So of course, the moment she could get away, she did, applying to Starfleet Academy before she'd finished her last year of schooling. It was just another example of her acting out and rebelling against the life her parents had envisioned for her. She had decided that if they were going to have a colony out there somewhere, then by god, someone needed to know how to live in space. And despite all the urging from her family to go to the Aberdeen Science Academy upon graduation for advanced theoretical studies, Cara pushed hard for that admission into the Earth forces Starfleet Academy. The acceptance letter came in while she still had three months left, shocking her family. All the same, her parents did little to try and repress the girl - she was, in the words of her mother, "hell on high water." Her first year was the hardest, as she fell into the sciences track, given her prior education to that point, and clear expertise. The adjustments to a wildly different culture. The way some of her classmates struggled with her accents. The styles. All the alien species. San Francisco was crawling with alien life and culture. Even the San Francisco bay area was so different from her home, despite both being large bays and the classes were intense. Nothing like what she had grown up with. The summer between semesters for Cara found her essentially stranded in North America. Her family had not stopped her from going on this fool errand of hers, but they had not gone out of their way to make it convenient to return home for the summer either. Instead she toured the United States with friends from the Academy, staying with their families during the breaks between her first and second years, and again between second and third years. But it was the third year that everything changed. She had heard rumors, of course, of the dangers that lurked out in the stars. But that came crashing home in the opening salvos of the Earth-Romulan war. An effort was made to stop the fledgling Coalition of Planets, of which Earth was a founding member of -from cementing itself as a functional organization. The planet of Coridan was attacked, razed by Romulan Warbirds. The gul-winged attack ships were then seen dropping out of warp into the solar systems of numerous earth colonies, and war began between the Romulan Empire, and the planetary members United Earth Government. And then she went on her Cadet cruise at the end of her third year. With a fourth year ahead of her for an advanced sciences degree, Cara joined the rest of her cohort for a month long-cadet cruise on the aging SS Emmette, which was one of the aging Ganges-class 'warp-delta' that were used to patrol some of the Earth systems, as well as for hands on practical study for cadets at the UES Academy. They were two weeks into the cruise, roughly half way, when something went wrong. The specifics were lost on Cara at the time, whom happened to be in a turbolift to the bridge. She knew there had been a gas leak. Something had broken in the older ships environmental systems. When she arrived on the bridge, everyone was down, and alarms were going all over the ship. she was it, the only person on hand. She had to take command. And it was the single most terrifying thing she had ever done in her life. From that point on, it was a blur. She knew she got the ship evacuated after those still on their feet concluded that whatever had gone wrong would not be something they could fix before people started dying. Before more people started dying. There had been a few, already. Shuttle pods then, were used to evacuate the ship. Thankfully, it was a cadet cruise. There weren't that many bodies on board. Living ones anyway. Cara and the rest of the crew spent the next few days adrift, circling their abandoned ship, watching as the Emmette hung in space, until the distress signal she had sent was answered. Two ships came to the rescue, almost within minutes of each other, from different vectors. The surviving crew was off boarded from the cramped shuttle pods, spread across the two vessels, and the Emmette was recovered, to be taken to the nearest shipyard for a full investigation. Returning for that senior year, Cara was at times both bolstered by her actions on the Emmette and weighted with guilt. She had risen to the occasion. The scientist had managed to save many of her fellow cadets and officers on that ship.. When everything had gone to hell, she hadn't folded. She hadn't run, or cowered, or waited for someone else to tell her what to do. But she hadn't saved everyone, and she didn't feel like she deserved the award she was given. But she poured herself into her senior year, well aware that she had earned the respect of many of the same counselors and professors that had, in the previous two years, admired her brilliance but questioned whether she belonged in the United Earth Starfleet. It was no longer a question. Personality Cara was a wild child, much to her orderly parent's dismay. There was a place for everything in her life - usually the floor. Organized chaos, she'd call it growing up. Bright and bubbly one moment but the next, a cutting temper and an acerbic wit would rise to the surface. While much of this tempered as she grew through her teenage years, that fire was there, under the surface, even after her years at the Academy. One professor remarked that Cara would be a model student - if only she could keep her opinions to herself. Quick to love, quick to anger. Brilliant, sharp as a tack and sharp-tongued. Flirtatious. An emotional contradiction. Cara Ross. Strengths Analytical mind, inquisitive. Very open, very communicative. General Sciences combined with a drive to learn. Weaknesses Lack of confidence. Tends to rush in. Sometimes talks too much. Acerbic wit. Inexperienced. Ambitions The itch to explore was one that grew and grew the older Cara got. And despite how often she would argue with her parents, or shuck school, the sciences eventually drew her in. Upon graduation from the Academy with some of the highest marks in her class and a masters degree in her parent's field of study, Cara requested a starship posting, instead of the planetary survey that some of her career mentors had pressed her to apply for. As suited as she might have been for a long-term study mission on a single planet, Cara wanted to see all of them. Threat of war be damned. Hobbies & Interests Climatology. Scotland, Baking, Astrophysics, Computers, Survival, Inspiration, Yoga Physical Profile Growing up in the Highlands, Cara was often outside, be it in a pouring storm or a bright sunny day. Not too tall, not too short, curvier in the hip than the bust, the most striking feature that Cara had was her shockingly bright red hair and vivid green eyes. She carried no scars - her parents saw to that - but upon graduation, Cara and three of her friends (who had all survived their cadet cruise together) went and got tattoos, on the back of their left shoulders - the Academy Phoenix logo, and their year of graduation - 2157. Education & Service Record Category:Characters